Heidi Shierholz
Heidi Shierholz leads the Economic Policy Institutes’ Perkins Project on Worker Rights and Wages, a policy response team that tracks the Trump administration’s wage and employment policies. She also heads EPI’s efforts to advance a worker-centered policy agenda.
Articles by this author
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Views Thursday, December 03, 2020 Unless Congress Acts, Millions of Americans Will Soon Be Left With No Safety Net Another 1.0 million people applied for UI benefits last week, including 712,000 people who applied for regular state UI and 289,000 who applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). After two weeks of increases, the 1.0 million who applied for UI last week was a welcome decline of 105,000... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, November 25, 2020 Millions Will Lose Unemployment Benefits in December Unless GOP Senators Act Due to the Thanksgiving holiday this week, data on unemployment insurance (UI) claims—usually released on Thursdays—were released today. The data show that another 1.1 million people applied for UI benefits last week, including 778,000 people who applied for regular state UI and 312,000 who applied... Read more |
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Views Thursday, November 12, 2020 Not Just Cruel, GOP Blocking Unemployment Aid Is Terrible Economics More than 1.0 million people applied for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits again last week, including 709,000 people who applied for regular state UI and 298,000 who applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). PUA is the federal program that provides up to 39 weeks of benefits for... Read more |
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Views Monday, November 02, 2020 Thanks to Mitch McConnell, 30 Million Workers Head Into Election Day Unnecessarily Hurting One of the most frequent questions I’ve gotten in the last few months is, “How many workers are being hurt by the coronavirus recession?” There is a huge amount of confusion about this because two major, completely separate, government data sets that address this question are reporting very... Read more |
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Views Thursday, October 29, 2020 Let's Be Very Clear: Senate Republicans Have Failed Every Struggling American Family Another 1.1 million people applied for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits last week, including 751,000 people who applied for regular state UI and 360,000 who applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). PUA is the federal program for workers who are not eligible for regular unemployment... Read more |
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Views Thursday, October 22, 2020 With Millions of People Out of Work, the Senate’s Inaction Is Not Only Cruel, It’s Bad Economics Another 1.1 million people applied for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits last week. That includes 787,000 people who applied for regular state UI and 345,000 who applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). PUA is the federal program for workers who are not eligible for regular... Read more |
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Views Thursday, October 08, 2020 1.3 Million People Filed Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Last Week Another 1.3 million people applied for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits last week. That includes 840,000 people who applied for regular state UI and 464,000 who applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). PUA is the federal program for workers who are not eligible for regular... Read more |
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Views Friday, September 25, 2020 At Least 33 Million Workers Are Being Hurt by the Coronavirus Recession The most frequent question I’ve gotten in the last few months is “how many workers are being hurt by the coronavirus recession?” There is a huge amount of confusion about this because two major, completely separate, government datasets that address this question are reporting very different numbers... Read more |
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Views Thursday, September 03, 2020 Total Initial UI Claims Have Risen in Each of the Last Four Weeks Last week 1.6 million workers applied for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. Breaking that down: 881,000 applied for regular state unemployment insurance, and 759,000 applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). This is the fourth week in a row that total initial claims have risen... Read more |
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Views Thursday, August 27, 2020 UI Claims Remain Historically High and the President’s Executive Memorandum Is Doing More Harm Than Good Last week 1.4 million workers applied for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. Breaking that down: 822,000 applied for regular state unemployment insurance (not seasonally adjusted), and 608,000 applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA). Some headlines this morning are saying there were 1... Read more |